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Οι AN DANNSA DUB προσγειώνονται για πρώτη φορά στην Ελλάδα για ένα δυναμικό και έτσι ο Beater.gr τους συνάντησε και μίλησαν για όλα.

How did the idea of fusing traditional Scottishmusic with dub and ambient come about? Whatinspired you to create this unique sound?

We met at a club night that Tom used to run in Glasgow called ‘Walk n skank’ – Euan came down to the club for a Christmas Charity night and jumped on the fiddle on top of Reggae and Dub riddims. During the night and at a few other meetings following they discussed how well it had worked and how good it could be if they worked together but busy tour schedules for both of them got in the way. Then suddenly covid 19 came along and put a stop to touring altogether.

-The Fraser Shaw Trust is an organisation put together to keep the music of the late Fraser Shaw alive while raising money for the relief of multiple sclerosis, the illness that sadly took Frasers life far too young.

– In 2020, the trust created a project to get a select bunch of artists to rework, remix and reimagine some of Frasers music. Euan was one of the artists selected for the project and so he got in touch with Tom to finally realise the idea that had been bouncing between them since that night at Walk n Skank. From these first studio sessions came the tune the Earthship – eventually being renamed to Time Marches On. The track turned out amazing and Tom & Euan decided that this couldn’t be left as just a single track.

– We continued to write off the back of the first tune and before we knew if we had a full EP. This EP (titled An Dannsa Dub) was released on vinyl in 2021 and we knew we had to find a way of performing it live. We put together a crack squad of musicians that we were used to working with from the reggae dub and trad scenes and after a few line up changes we had our band! We got them together to record 2 songs live from the EP to use for promo to get some bookings and we were off!

What is the meaning of the name «An Dannsa Dub» and how does it reflect your musical identity?

An Dannsa dub means The Dub Dance

The idea has always been bridging gaps between genres and blending our sounds and worlds together. We love writing together and we’ve found far more similarities than differences in our styles. The project is a chance to mix Dub music that we love with the music that’s embedded in the roots of Scotland. This was a relief musically and felt like an important growth where we were inspired to create a new sound, not imitating anything we’d heard before. It gives something unique and special to the reggae dub scene both in Scotland and further afield, something truly unique that doesn’t existanywhere else – an offering to a culture that we love a lot and which has always welcomed us. While equally at the same time giving us an opportunity to present the traditional and folk music worlds with a fresh and unique take on our own culture and hopefully presenting both sides with a window into the other.

Are there any specific milestonesin your journey that you would like to share?

After the release of Air an Turas, we toured all over and received loads of great feedback. This really inspired us so we continued to write what we soon realised would be a new album. We toured all over the UK and Europe, playing at the likes of Boomtown, Glastonbury, Lorient headlining our local festivals of Knockengorroch and Kelburn and gathering more momentum than we ever imagined.  

What has been the response of the audience in Scotland and internationally to your music, especially considering your traditional base and contemporary influences?

It’s been amazing We’re trying to create a whirlwind of energy with our live shows and a induce a trancelike state for the audience. Music is such a powerful tool and truly brings people together. We believe that our music achieves that naturally through the joyous nature of the fusion of genres that we pull together. We love that through our musicianship and innovation we can perform to some incredibly diverse audiences. From crusty festival punks in Scotland’s hills to pensioners in fancy little market towns in the south of England, riled up druidic crowds in central Italy and sunkissed skankers on the shores of India. We get them all involved and by the end, doing mad mosh pits. Some are objectively madder than others, but they all try! At the core we always want to stay respectful to the musical genres and cultures that we are inspired by but also remain open minded to moving forward and exploring the possibilities of what’s next and where we can take our sound from mixing and melding music.

What can Greek fans expect from your upcomingconcerts in Thessaloniki, Volos and Athens? Arethere any special elements that you plan to presentto the Greek audience?

Energy! This will be the first time testing some new tunes from our new release we can wait to see the Greek fans reactions because we love the energy we felt last time and this time the show is even better !

How do you see the development of the traditionalmusic scene in Scotland and how do you think yourwork contributes to this development?

It’s a huge melting pot right now so many different hybrid bands and sound pushing forward the scene it’s amazing to be apart of !

What are your future plans after the tour in Greece? Are there any new releases or collaborations that wecan expect?

The new album “ through the storm” co produced by Gaudi and mixed by Paolo Baldini is out on. 29/4/25 on La Tempesta Dub records . And our new single Standing Strong ft Junior dread is out on 4th April Standing Strong ft Junior Dread.We wanted to create something closer to a Roots reggae tune than we have before – taking inspiration from the uk & european roots scenes. Definitely the deepest we’ve gone into this style and the closest we’ve stuck to a classic roots reggae tune, of course with our An Dannsa signature twist. We hope this track will appeal to all the soundsystem heads out there and potent tially even be a gateway to discovering the world of Scottish Traditional music for them. We chose to work with the incredible Brazilian reggae vocalist Junior Dread because we love his work and the sound of his voice, you can hear the strength and struggle literally resonate through his vocal chords. Tom met him in Scotland when he came to play with Scottish Soundsystem Champions Mungos HiFi in 2016 and they have kept a link ever since. The storm in this album is physical but also metaphorical for all the fuckery in the world right now. It’s a hard time to live and Jr Dread does a great job of describing this in his lyrics whilst still providing a hopeful message of strength and defiance against all odds. This level of perseverance, defiance and strength has been vital to complete this album and i’m sure manywill resonate with the fact you have to stand strong even in the wildest storms life throws at you!

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